Quick Post Mortem


Rashomon was the first movie that taught me about making movies, it was a shining example of how film structure works and it unlocked a personal revelation about assembling a PROPER GOOD piece of work.

I tried to adapt the Rashomon story appropriately into a game using frames as characters "frame" of view where it gives the player the autonomy of action in the memory of the character being spoken to in an attempt to solve the problem of "how is this game about what's it about?"


[SPOILERS] 

You can see that the stories are inconsistent with each other. 
While you can puzzle it out you wont reach far, the point of the game and the film
is the subjectivity of witness - but you can also notice the rain
As a slight nod to Kurosawas work with light ive made the stories which are true 
contain rain in the scene. This is because when you're introduced in the world in the main "hub" its raining, 
which is the only truth you know for certain.

The story itself as it was written during the gamejam from a vague memory of the movie goes like this:

Husbands perspective

"And if so, he ran with the gold" 

<Its raining in the forest>
The thief raided their caravan, killed his wife and ran away with their gold 
(i didnt have time portraying that he killed the wife)
The husband hunts down the thief.

"And if so, he was downed by my arrow."

<Its not raining>
He shoots him, wounding his shoulder but leaving him alive.

"And if so, I write my name up in the sky with fire"

<Its not raining>
The husband burns down the thiefs village

Thiefs perspective

"And if so, I've found my own desert"

<It's not raining>
The samurai (husband) has burned down his village out of malice. He lost his home.

"And if so, make these wounds heal with gold."

<It's raining outside>
The thief, out of anger for his burnt village(or so it seems) steals his gold in revenge (this isnt accurately portrayed in the game)

"And if so, fill this room with tremors." 

<Its raining outside>
He kills the wife in revenge.

Wifes perspective

"And if so, our piece of mind will be buried like a treasure."

<Its raining outside>
The wife takes a knife off the table to protect her on her trip.

"And if so, could these fires repair us?"

<Its not raining>
She looks at her husband viciously burning down a village.

"And if so, the world's just a room filled with mirrors."

<Its raining outside>
The wife kills herself out of grief


[SPOILERS] 


What went wrong:

  1.  First, the game has a head but no tail. I havent had an opportunity to test it with people
    but it seems that it comes of as confusing when there is no hard end. I imagine even
    Kurosawa mightve ran into a problem of how tie off this type of story, how to end this mystery
    with a satisfying question mark.
  2.  Another thing i did wrong was almost copy the whole thing, i shouldve either tried a different
    set piece or anything but the asian aesthetic, it brought nothing new to the table and the story
    couldve been interestingly used in another context. A big part of what i appreciate in creativity
    is the faustian crossroads, connecting two seperate ideas to form something novel. It wouldve been
    more interesting to try that
  3. The game needs more autonomy in character perspectives. If i had time i would've invested into player
    soaking in being the thief, samurai and wife characters. Its important to internalize their perspectives
    as if they were completely true, this was is the power games as a medium offer to bring new light into
    an old story and i goofed there.


Other than that i am happy with the reception, most if not all people who played it had only nice things to say and i am thankful for you giving it the time of day. It is fair to say this isnt a horror game nor did i ever intend to make it such. I will continue hammering at it when time allows it but since i didnt have time to play test it i would LOVE to hear some feedback to see what you struggled with personally and what you would like to see this become.

Thanks for reading!

Get Rashomon

Comments

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seems like you figured out all the pain points by yourself, so there is no need to shit on any of the issues i had...great experiment. i didn't figure out the "true" story, yet left satisfied because of great aesthetic, narrative and world building.

if you are reading this and haven't played it, have an open mind when it comes to experimental game design, you should definitely check. it. out!

i adored the visual style and effects - it was so satisfying to see my screen fill up with each person's stories. I love the architecture, the varied frames, the color scheme, character design, all of it was wonderful. There were of course some minor bugs, but I don't think there's much point in focusing on those. I also really like the idea of experiencing each perspective as though it were the truth in a future version/sequel, and also of extending the style to an original world.

I do think that having something to cap off the experience - even simply asking the player who they trust the most, or what they think of each character - would make things more impactful. This doesn't need to be phoenix wright; I'm more interested in exploring these characters and why they're choosing to say the things they are. The rain tidbit is neat, but I think in a more expanded version of the game it would be more fun to focus on giving the player tools and space to contrast each person's narrative and look for contradictions or details, since I would never have noticed the rain on my own. 

Fantastic concept, though, and I look forward to seeing what you make of it in the future.

Super valuable feedback! Thank you for taking the time to write this out!

Im very much trying to brain out how to make  mystery whose point is the subjectivity of perspective be left unanswered but still satisfying. Its a very fun problem. Im also very glad you enjoyed the aesthetics, its the one thing I thoroughly enjoy making!

What makes this game so unique is in its ability to manipulate the player. The fact that the beginning and end do not exist strategically like bookends, the fact that it first appears on screen in the oddest way possible, the fact that the story is in and of itself void of an objective truth are it's strengths. In my personal opinion, there is nothing wrong with confusing the audience a bit. It was so striking to see the “pieces” begin to form on screen, as it went on and the story completely unfolded it’s only natural to search for more, but you eventually do reach the conclusion that the game has already given you everything you need and everything you can get. Not having a “hard end” may not be an issue at all. It being a short game-play wasn’t bad either; if anything, I think that the continuation of this project could be through multiple stories rather than the evolvement of this specific one. Imagine a collection of manipulative arcs with similar visual effects, even borrowing classic tales and showcasing the multiple different perspectives from them.

All in all, I think you did Kurosawa justice here. I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors!

(+1)

I really appreciate the in-depth feedback and I'm super happy that the idea sat with you well.  I am looking into how to expand this in a purposeful way that really adds to the whole story and doesnt lose sight of what its about.

Thank you!